In 2012, we saw the Android smartphone world reach heights that I don’t imagine many predicted. On a spec front, 2012 was the year of quad-core processors, 2GB of RAM, HD displays, longer battery lives, and incredibly thin bodies. It seems like just yesterday that we were asking DL readers if they had a dual-core or single-core phone, yet here we are, with dual-core phones already becoming a thing of the past.

On a manufacturer front, 2012 was the year that Samsung proved that it really was the only big fish in a bowl full of minnows. We saw Motorola kick off its life as a Google-owned company, HTC struggle to make money even while releasing amazing phones, and LG take its turn as the face of the Nexus phone program.

In this post, I thought we’d talk a bit about all of that by listing out my top 10 phones of the year.

No surprise here, but the Galaxy S3 tops my list of phones for 2012. It was hyped as much as the next iPhone, yet it still delivered. It launched with an impressive suite of sharing capabilities that no other phone had seen, it used a big beautiful display with a body that was slim enough to feel great in hand, and with 2GB of RAM, it almost never stuttered or slowed down. But most importantly, Samsung showed the world that it has power in the mobile world by releasing one version of the phone across all carriers. As expected, though, people were quick to downplay it at launch, but over its first couple of months in stores, Samsung sold millions upon millions of units, fully cementing themselves as number 1 in the world.

The Nexus 4, Google’s latest flagship device, has seen its share of ups and downs over its short life. It was hyped up for a couple of months in a variety of leaks, was never officially unveiled thanks to a hurricane, hated on because of its lack of LTE, and criticized mightily for its glass back. But you know what, to me, it’s still the 2nd best phone you can buy. It comes in at an unbelievably reasonable price of $299 (or $349), is the ultimate stock Android device since it’s the newest Nexus, carries future-proof specs, and isn’t tied to a carrier. It may be impossible to purchase, but that may also be a sign that Google has finally figured out a winning device formula.

When Samsung originally launched the Galaxy Note, the world was introduced to a confusing product plus one of the worst mashup words ever created in “phablet.” Was the phone a tablet or a phone or the “best of both worlds”? Surprisingly enough, that question doesn’t matter as it was a massive success. So Samsung did what any smart company would do with a successful product – launch a follow-up. The Galaxy Note 2, like the Galaxy S3, has already shipped by the millions, and may have even been the most anticipated device to launch on Verizon in some time (even over the Galaxy S3 and DROID brand). It’s too big for my liking, but you can’t argue with the impressive set of features that Samsung has built in. Also like the Galaxy S3, it blew past the competition with innovative features like multi-window, advanced S Pen technology, and camera sharing capabilities.

Verizon passed up on the HTC One X in early 2012, something we weren’t sure we could forgive them for. Thankfully, they appear to have fully redeemed themselves by launching the world’s first 1080p smartphone, the DROID DNA. The device itself is beautiful to look at, is much smaller in stature than the Note 2, is surprisingly light and thin, has the best display in the business, actually lasts throughout a full day even with a semi-small battery, and carries top-of-the-line specs that few other phones contain. At $199 on contract, it’s also somewhat of a steal. Easily the best phone HTC has created since the next phone on our list, the One X.

When HTC announced the One Series, which included the One X, the world was blown away. This was the new HTC, or at least one that was trying to make a comeback after a terrible end to 2011. The phone sported the best display in the business at the time, a best-in-class processor, the prettiest phone design we had ever seen, felt great in hand, was able to withstand a day’s beating on a single charge, and really set the standard for smartphones in 2012.

As we approached Motorola’s big Fall event, rumors started popping up over a mysterious device with the world’s first “edge-to-edge” display. While others were willing to bet the world on it being some secret device, we knew long beforehand that it was simply the DROID RAZR M, a mid-range device headed to Verizon. I don’t want that to sound like I’m discounting the phone, as it was easily my favorite from Motorola in 2012. Since the display was so close to being edge-to-edge, it has a small footprint, yet still packs mostly top-tier specs (other than the display). It has amazing battery life and feels tiny in hand compared to the rest of the smartphones being introduced these days. But that’s not a bad thing, as the display was still big enough to allow you to consume content without sacrificing a thing. We certainly hope that “edge-to-edge” is the future.

This may surprise some readers, seeing the RAZR MAXX HD below the RAZR M, but this phone offered little in terms of “new.” It still rocks a massive battery that can get you through days before needing a charge, plus it comes equipped with an HD display, but it was released late enough that it was almost out of date by the time it went on sale. I’m a big fan of Motorola’s decision to slim down the skin they put on top of Android, and will never complain about their focus on battery life, but the RAZR HD needed to blow it out of the park, something it didn’t quite do.

The LG Optimus G was the inspiration for the Nexus 4. It sports the same processor, RAM, display, and Crystal Reflection back design, so how could it not be on this list? While glass backsides will never appeal to me, this phone was a beast the minute it came out. In fact, with its quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, it was the highest spec’d phone on the planet for a at least a month. LG also took some time to create a software suite, much like Samsung had done, to try and help the phone stand out. They definitely succeeded. It’s too bad it was limited to AT&T and Sprint, as this phone could have potentially sold well on other carriers.

Boasting a massive 3300mAh battery while maintaining a slim profile, the original RAZR MAXX set the standard for battery life in 2012. Well, it set it and then watched as no one could match it until Motorola released the HD version of it 10 months later. We aren’t sure what kind of voodoo Motorola has working in their battery department, but we love it. They are the only phone company on the planet that has been able to make ultra-slim phones with batteries you used to only see sold separately as “extended.” The RAZR MAXX itself wasn’t all that impressive outside of its battery, but in my book, this battery was good enough to make the list.

Another original One Series phone, the HTC One S, finishes off my list of top 10 phones. With its ultra-thin body, fancy micro arc oxidation coating, and mostly top-tier set of specs, I was a big fan of this phone. Sure, it wasn’t as good as the One X, but it wasn’t supposed to be. HTC released it as an affordable mid-range phone, with a sleek profile, fun color scheme, and one of the best cameras in the business.

So there you have it, my top 10 phones of the year. I’m assuming there will be some disagreement, so let me hear it in the comments.

In the Android community, factory resets and phone wipes are almost second nature, even if you aren’t a prolific ROM flasher. There are ways to get your information back onto your phone rather quickly after these wipes, but a security feature in Google Wallet leaves you with the potential of the application never working again after even a simple factory reset.

A new owner of an HTC EVO 4G LTE found that his Sense was crashing repeatedly, and making the phone unusable. So he factory reset the phone and found that the secure element inside his phone’s NFC chip had been blown. At this point, Google Wallet and any other application that uses the secure element in the NFC chip is done, for good. A call to Google will only get the response that your warranty (if you have one) will replace the phone.

It should be noted that this problem isn’t limited to the EVO 4G LTE either, the Galaxy Nexus can also fall prey to this feature. But there is a way to make sure your NFC isn’t fried if you are planning on a new ROM sometime soon. Before doing a factory reset or wipe of any kind, users should go into Google Wallet, go into Settings and check the option of “Reset Google Wallet.” This deletes all the information and makes sure that the secure element doesn’t trip itself when the phone is reset. What do you do if your secure element has already been fried? Well, if you don’t have a backup made from before the wipe, you are pretty much out of luck. If you are lucky enough to have that backup, a restore will fix it and allow you to reset Google Wallet before flashing again.

The worst part about this whole thing is the lack of any kind of warning to users of Google Wallet. The feature has good intentions, protecting your sensitive Wallet data from would-be hackers, but when it goes wrong; it really goes wrong. In reality, it’s just another growing pain for a still-young Google Wallet service. Hopefully Google sees the users that are affected by this and gives them a way to fix their phones. Any readers affected by this bug? How did you deal with it?

]]>http://www.droid-life.com/2012/05/29/a-simple-factory-reset-could-break-your-google-wallet-forever-learn-how-to-safeguard-your-info/feed/55Pre-ordered an HTC EVO 4G LTE? It Should Ship by May 24, Appears to Have Passed ITC Testshttp://www.droid-life.com/2012/05/21/pre-ordered-an-htc-evo-4g-lte-it-should-ship-by-may-24-appears-to-have-passed-itc-tests/
http://www.droid-life.com/2012/05/21/pre-ordered-an-htc-evo-4g-lte-it-should-ship-by-may-24-appears-to-have-passed-itc-tests/#commentsMon, 21 May 2012 22:34:25 +0000http://www.droid-life.com/?p=70310Pre-ordered an HTC EVO 4G LTE? It Should Ship by May 24, Appears to Have Passed ITC Tests is a post from: Droid Life
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The HTC EVO 4G LTE will ship to those that pre-ordered on May 24, according to Sprint. After being held up at customs by the ITC for patent reasons that involve Apple (of course), the device must have passed their tests and has been cleared for take off. Sprint is still not willing to give us an official launch date for the device in stores, but if pre-orders are shipping this Thursday, it shouldn’t be too far off from that.

When you look through your message inbox and come across a phone number, your smartphone automatically turns those digits into a shortcut to the dialer. It’s a feature that we know is there, yet we most likely take it for granted since it has become the norm for our devices. Well, maybe not anymore. Yesterday, shipments into the United States of HTC’s One X and EVO 4G LTE have been indefinitely held up by the International Trade Commission to undergo inspection. Last December, the ITC ruled that HTC was violating the aforementioned patent which is owned by Apple and issued a “limited exclusion order” which went in effect April 19, making the import of devices using the patent prohibited.

Due to this investigation, HTC has issued a delay in the US release of these devices on both Sprint and AT&T, who currently list the device as “Out of Stock.” Sprint is still taking pre-orders for a launch that was intended for this Friday. According to new reports from the WSJ, HTC has said to have worked around the patent, but the ITC will still need to carry out their inspections. Unfortunately, as far as the public knows, there is no time frame set for when that will be concluded.

The HTC EVO 4G LTE is the latest in one of Android’s most iconic brands to emerge on Sprint. Coming this Friday (May 18) to a store near you, there probably won’t be another device this good on America’s third largest carrier for some time. With that said, how do we really feel about this phone? As a variation of HTC’s One X (unofficially), it has all of the internals to be the best in the business, but to us, internals are only half the battle. And in the case of the EVO 4G LTE, it may be losing that other battle – the battle of design, feel, and network.

Overall Thoughts:

Rather than put you through another full review of a One X-variant, we will simply refer you to both of our previous One X reviews (AT&T version | Unlocked version) if you are looking for camera samples, battery life numbers, Sense 4.0 overviews, and display chatter. The AT&T version is going to match up more closely to the EVO 4G LTE because of its processor and “LTE,” but both are good reads if you want to know everything there is to know about HTC’s flagship line of phones. And the reason we are skipping all of the general review jargon is because the internals of the phones are essentially identical. The EVO 4G LTE has the same amazing 4.7″ Super LCD2 display, top notch 8MP rear F2.0 camera with HTC’s ImageSense, impressive 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor (AT&T One X), 1GB of RAM, NFC, and Ice Cream Sandwich. Where the EVO differs is in battery size, jumping to 2000mAh. It also has 16GB of internal storage, but can be expanded via microSD card, unlike any of the One X variants. It definitely has a couple of advantages there.

After you get out of the geeky, tech stuff though, it comes down to the look and feel of the phone, along with the network that it can connect to. I’ll go into this more throughout the video, but to be perfectly honest, I have to say that this phone took some risks in the design department and I’m not sure it came out ahead of the class. There are a variety of colors and finishes and metals that from a first impression standpoint, are not good. In hand, there are sharp metal edges thanks to a wrap-around band, a glossy plastic top that is never fingerprint-free, and a mostly useless dedicated camera button. The top lock switch feels squishy, the volume rocker sticky, and the rest of it is too confusing to comment on. HTC knocked it out of the park, walk-off style, with the design of the One X. With the EVO 4G LTE, it looks like an overweight middle reliever that just took a come-backer to the jugular.

As far as the network goes, know that while this is called the EVO “4G LTE” that owners of the phone won’t have LTE coverage for some time. Sprint is launching their first batch of LTE networks at some point in the near future (“mid-Summer 2012″), probably in Kansas City initially, but the rest of the country may not see it for a while (as in years). Sprint is behind when it comes to having a next-gen network, so be aware. While owners of the AT&T One X may not have LTE everywhere, they at least can fall back on HSPA+ which is no slouch. Sprint EVO users will fall all the way back to snailish 3G. There is no WiMax fallback.

Quick Review:

Verdict:

This phone, for the most part, is a great phone. The screen, processor, speed, performance, camera tech, NFC, and all of that fun are as good as it gets. The problem here comes down to design choices and network. For me personally, I couldn’t run faster from this device thanks to its looks and the fact that if I bought it, I would be stuck on Sprint’s 3G for the foreseeable future. However, for those that love Sprint and have made it this long without LTE, then there is no other choice. The Galaxy Nexus is the EVO 4G LTE’s only competitor on the network, and it’s at least a level or two below it. Like I said in the beginning, there are two battles that have to be won to compete with the best of them in today’s market – design/feel/network and then all of the techie stuff. On the tech front, the EVO matches the best of them. It’s the design/feel/network side that is of concern. If you can get over that, by all means, buy this phone and enjoy the hell out of it.

Gallery:

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]]>http://www.droid-life.com/2012/05/14/htc-evo-4g-lte-review-quick/feed/555Video: Quick First Look at the HTC EVO 4G LTEhttp://www.droid-life.com/2012/05/08/video-quick-first-look-at-the-htc-evo-4g-lte/
http://www.droid-life.com/2012/05/08/video-quick-first-look-at-the-htc-evo-4g-lte/#commentsTue, 08 May 2012 19:30:47 +0000http://www.droid-life.com/?p=69030Video: Quick First Look at the HTC EVO 4G LTE is a post from: Droid Life
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While stumbling around HTC’s booth here at CTIA, I came across the new EVO 4G LTE which I had yet to get my hands on. So I took it for a spin and thought I’d share.

When this phone was unveiled, I was pretty critical of the design choices that were made, particularly to the back side. The matte finish on the bottom looks amazing, but that glossy black top is something else altogether. After handling the phone for all of 5 minutes, the glossy part was completely covered in fingerprints (you’ll see in the video). So with this phone, you will constantly be wiping the back and screen so that it doesn’t look like a massive black smudgefest. Overall though, the phone is very pleasing to look at from the front, it’s just that backside makes me cringe a bit.

For those not familiar, the EVO 4G LTE is headed to Sprint as somewhat of a copy of the One X. It has a dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor inside, 4.7″ gorgeous Super LCD2 display, 1GB of RAM, 8MP camera, 2000mAh battery, and more. It’s easily Sprint’s best phone even with the Galaxy Nexus just launching.